Timer with multiple wire output for readout

ABSTRACT

A timer driven by a clock motor has a multiple wire output for readout (punched holes, displayed digits, printed digits, et.). A pawl operates a ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to a desired maximum two digit number, and turns two rotary switches. One is a units rotary switch with a ring of short contacts equaling the desired maximum number. The short contacts are in groups corresponding to 0-9, 0-9, etc., with a remainder when needed. The second rotary switch is a tens rotary switch having a wiper arm which is moved over a ring of long contacts each corresponding to ten short contacts, but the last long contact corresponds to the remainder, if any. The number of long contacts equals the number of groups of short contacts, and all contacts are printed on the front face of a printed circuit board. The back face of the board is printed with conductors which connect all contacts representing like digits. Because the contacts are arranged in a ring, there is an automatic reset to zero. The maximum number may be 99 for tenths and hundredths of an hour, or it may be 59 for minutes, with the clock motor output shaft turning 100 or 60 revolutions per hour respectively. The first shaft operates the pawl of a second ratchet wheel once for each revolution of the first shaft, and the second wheel has 24 teeth. A second printed circuit board has third and fourth rotary switches driven by the second ratchet wheel one revolution a day. There are contacts for a maximum of 23 followed by reset to 00. The combined maximum then is 23.99 with reset to 00.00 for a 24 hour day. For a readout in hours and minutes the maximum number is 23:59 with reset to 00:00.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee Louis Cetran Newington;

Gerhard A. Foerster, Woodbridge; William P. Ryan, Bethany, all of Conn.

Mar. 28, 1969 Sept. 28, 1971 Mite Corporation New Haven, Conn.

TIMER WITII MULTIPLE WIRE OUTPUT FOR Primary Examiner-Maynard R. Wilbur Assistant Examiner-Robert F. Gnuse Attorney-James and Franklin ABSTRACT: A timer driven by a clock motor has a multiple wire output for readout (punched holes, displayed digits, printed digits, et.). A pawl operates a ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to a desired maximum two digit number, and turns two rotary switches. One is 3 units rotary switch with a ring of short contact equaling the desired maximum number. The short contacts are in groups corresponding to 0-9, 0-9, etc., with a remainder when needed. The secondary rotary switch is a tens rotary switch having a wiper arm which is moved over a ring of long contacts each corresponding to ten short contacts, but the last long contact corresponds to the remainder, if any. The number of long contacts equals the number of groups of short contacts, and all contacts are printed on the front face of a printed circuit board. The back face of the board is printed with conductors which connect all contacts representing like digits. Because the contacts are arranged in a ring, there is an automatic reset to zero. The maximum number may be 99 for tenths and hundredths of an hour, or it may be 59 for minutes, with the clock motor output shaft turning 100 or 60 revolutions per hour respectively. The first shaft operates the pawl of a second ratchet wheel once for each revolution of the first shaft, and the second wheel has 24 teeth. A second printed circuit board has third and fourth rotary switches driven by the second ratchet wheel one revolution a day. There are contacts for a maximum of 23 followed by reset to 00. The combined maximum then is 23.99 with reset to 00.00 for a 24 hour day. For a readout in hours and minutes the maximum number is 23:59 with reset to 00:00.

PATENTEU SEP28 I971 sum 2 or 6 INVENTORS LOUIS CETRAN GE RHARD A FOERSTER WILLIAM F? RYAN ATTORNEYS PATENTED m8 ISYI SHEET 8 UF 6 TIMER WITH MULTIPLE WIRE OUTPUT FOR READOUT In some plants a man working on several jobs, for example a model maker, has a punch card for a time record on each job. During the day he punches the card when he starts work on a job, and punches it again when he stops, thus providing a cumulative record of the time spent on that particular job. For this purpose it is convenient and customary to use tenths and hundredths of an hour instead of minutes, and it is also customary to use a 24 hour clock instead of a 12 hour clock. Such apparatus is already available, but is very complex and costly.

The time may be punched in hours and minutes, instead of using decimals. The time may be printed instead of being punched, but punching of standard business machine cards is preferred, so that the time record may be read by machine instead of manually. In some cases even the punched card may receive a numerical reading near the top edge above the punched reading therebelow. The machine may include a visual readout, and this may be a 12 or 24 hour clock face, with minute and hour hands. If desired, a numerical display readout may be provided, in which case the displayed numbers, if based on a 24 hour clock, would correspond to the punched numbers. In the present description all of these outputs are generically termed a readout.

The punch card used may be a standard business machine card, but with a reduced number of columns, say 40 columns occupying only half the card. The other half is left blank to receive written information identifying the job and the workman doing the same.

Ten punches representing -9 are punched in a column transverse to the long axis of the card. Four columns are used forthe time record, and the card is rapidly stepped from column to column for the punch operation. The punched holes may read up to a predetermined maximum, usually 23.99 hours, whereupon the timer is reset to 00.00 hours.

Although the timer is here shown operated by a clock, it may be driven in other ways, and is more broadly useful as a timer with multiple wire output for readout, the latter being a series of displayed digits, printed digits, punched holes, etc. The apparatus is simple and inexpensive, and provides the desired automatic reset from some predetermined maximum number to zero.

In simple form the timer provides two digits which are related as units and tens. Each digit of the predetermined maximum number may be nine or less. The timer has a pawl and ratchet wheel to cause step-by-step operation of a shaft, the ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to the maximum number, and serving through said shaft to turn two rotary switches. One is a units rotary switch having a wiper arm moved over a ring of equally spaced short contacts, the number of short contacts equaling the desired maximum number, and the short contacts being divided in groups corresponding to O9, 09, etc., with a remainder if needed. There are conductors connecting all of the number 0 contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 1 contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 2 contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 3 contacts, and so on.

The second rotary switch is a tens rotary switch having a wiper arm which is moved over a ring of long contacts each of which has a peripheral length corresponding to l0 contacts of the units rotary switch. The last long contact may be somewhat shorter, and has a length corresponding to the previously mentioned remainder of short contacts when there is any. The number of long contacts equals the number of groups of short contacts. Because the contacts are arranged in a ring, there is an automatic reset to zero.

lfthe maximum number is 99 with reset to ()0, there are 100 short contacts, and long contacts, each having a peripheral length corresponding to 10 of the short contacts. In such case the ratchet wheel has 100 hundred teeth and there is a clock motor with reduction gearing to drive the pawl 100 times an hour so that the shaft turns once an hour, in which case the readout shows IOths and l00ths of an hour.

To provide four digits there is a second shaft with its own pawl and ratchet mechanism. The first shaft operates the pawl of the second shaft once for each revolution of the first shaft, and the second ratchet wheel has 24 teeth for a 24 hour day. There are third and fourth rotary switches (furnishing the I hour and 10 hour digits) driven by the second ratchet wheel and shaft. The third and fourth rotary switches have short contacts for a maximum of 23, followed by a reset to 00. In such case the combined maximum number is 23.99 with a reset to 00.00, so that the complete readout shows hours and decimal fractions of an hour. If it be desired to provide a readout in hours and minutes, the only change needed is to use a clock motor with reduction gearing to operate the pawl once a minute, the said pawl engaging a ratchet wheel having 60 teeth. One rotary switch then has 60 contacts in six groups of O-9, and six long contacts, one for each group of short contacts, these corresponding to numbers 0-5. The maximum number than is 23:59, followed by a reset to 00.00.

The rotary switches preferably take the form of a printed circuit board which has two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, these rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring. The back face of the board is also printed, but with conductors serving to connect all those contacts representing like digits. The has two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts.

The foregoing and additional features are described in the following detailed specification, which is accompanied by drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a business machine card suitable for the present purpose;

FIG. 2 is a schematic electrical diagram for the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing major parts of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a partly sectioned vertical elevation;

FIG. 5 is a view drawn to reduced scale explanatory of the construction of the wiper arms;

FIG. 7 is an elevation looking toward the left side of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary transverse view taken approximately on the line 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7A is explanatory of a switch mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary transverse view taken approximately on the line 8-8 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of a readout for both printing and punching a card;

FIG. 10 is a similar schematic view looking toward the left side of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view of a printed circuit board for a maximum reading of 99;

FIG. 11A is a small scale schematic view representing a printed circuit board for a maximum number of 59;

FIG. 12 shows the front of a printed circuit board for a maximum number of 23; and

FIG. 13 shows a modification used when the clock is a slave clock.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to FIG. I, the record card 12 conforms in shape, size and texture to a standard IBM card or equivalent business machine card. The right-hand portion 14 is left blank or may be printed with the company name, and is used primarily for written information such as identification of the job and the workman. The lefthand part 16 of the card has the usual columns, in this case 40 columns. Each column receives a number from 0 to 9, indicated by punched holes, and in the drawing the represent 2, 3, 5, and 9, The second time record would use columns 5-8; the third time record would use columns 9-12; and so on.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawing, the card is shown at 12. The punch head 20 may be standard and has 10 punches 22. It operates one punch or another, as by means of selectively useable interposers, controlled by 10 conductors marked 09 at the left. There may be a visual or display readout at 24, and there may be printed readout here schemat'ically suggested at 26. In both cases the appropriate number may be selected by the same 10 wires leading to a counter which, in the present case, is clock operated. The printer 26 could provide numbers along the top edge of the card, as shown at 28 in FIG. I. The display readout 24 may be digital and controlled by the same 10 conductors, or it may be a clock face with hands driven mechanically as described later. In FIG. 9 there would be a common return (not shown) for the I circuits. The card feed means is schematically indicated at 30 in FIG. 10. The feed works on a card carriage, rather than the card itself.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawing, the output conductors are indicated at 32, and these correspond to the correct number in a single column. They would lead to the I0 conductors shown at 34 in FIG. 9. In FIG. 2 the four conductors shown at 36 are output conductors corresponding to the four columns. The feed of the business machine card may be step-by-step from one column to the next, but the column beneath the punch line is identified by one or another of the conductors 36, shown in FIG. 10. These lead to the four conductors shown at 36 in FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 11 of the drawing, the two rotary switches there shown are advantageously and economically formed on a printed circuit board 40. In this case it is used for a maximum number of 99 with reset to 00. In such case there is a ring of 100 equally spaced short contacts generally designated 42. The contacts are divided into I0 groups of 10 each, with each group corresponding to 0-9. There are conductors, in this case generally radial conductors 44, of different length for the different digits. The back of the board is printed with concentric circular conductors generally designated 46. Each circular conductor is here represented by a single broken line. There are holes which connect the radial conductors 44 to the circular conductors 46, the plating of the board being carried out on both sides of the board and through the holes. In this way there are conductors connecting all of the number 0 contacts; conductors connecting all of the number 1 contacts; conductors connecting all of the number 2 contacts; conductors connecting all of the number 3 contacts; and so on.

The second rotary switch or tens switch is conveniently printed on the same circuit board 40, and has long contacts 48 with each long contact corresponding in length to 10 short contacts. Dlfferently expressed, there is one long contact for each group of short contacts. In the present case there are 10 .long contacts marked 0-9.

There are two wipers or brushes described later. One of these is moved over the short contacts and the other is moved over the long contacts, both being mounted on the same shaft for equal angular movement. The long contacts are connected to the appropriate or corresponding short contact, and this may be done on the front of the board. As here shown, the zero long contact is connected to the zero short contacts at 50; the number I long contact is connected to the number 1 short contacts at 51; the number 2 long contact is connected to the number 2 short contacts at 52 and so on, until the number 9 long contact is connected to the number 9 short contacts at The printing on the front of the board may also include two continuous concentric rings 62 and 64, well inside the rings of short and long contacts. These may be used for external connection to the two wiper arms.

Referring now to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the wiper arm 66 of the hundredths switch is carried by a hub 68 mounted on a shaft 70. This arm 66 carries resilient wipers 72 and 74. Wiper 72 (FIG. 5) engages the contact ring 42, and wiper 74 engages the inner continuous ring 64. The wiper arm of the tens switch may be an arm 78 which is a nonconducting integral extension of the wiper arm 66. The arm 78 carries resilient contact 80 and 82 (FIG. 5). The latter engages the ring of long contacts 48, and the arm 80 engages the larger continuous ring 62.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that if the shaft 70 is clock-driven to turn once an hour, the output of the two switches will correspond to hundredths and tenths of one hour. The wiper arms 66 and 78 are made of insulating material such as a plastic in heavy sheet form.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there are two additional switches the contacts for which are printed on an ordinary printed circuit board 84 made of insulating material (as is board 40 in FIG. 11). This again comprises a ring of short contacts generally designated 86 surrounded by a concentric ring of long contacts. In the present case the desired maximum number is 23, with reset to 00 for the 24th hour of the day. The ring 86 of short contacts therefore has 24 equally spaced short contacts for the hours digit, and these are in groups of 0-9, 0-9, with a remainder of O-3, The long contact 88 has a length which corresponds to a group of 10 short contacts marked O-9; the long contact 90 correspond to another group of 10 short contacts; and the somewhat shorter long contact 92 has a length corresponding to the four short contacts 0-3. The short and long contacts are 180 apart because the respective wiper arms are 180 apart as in FIG. 5. Here again, there are radial lines 94 printed on the front of the board and having different lengths for the different digits, and there are arcuate connections 93 printed on the back of the board, these connections being shown by single dotted lines. It is not essential in all cases to use radial lines on the front of the board, and the upper left portion of the drawing shows printing 99 on the back of the board, which does not require radial lines on the front of the board.

Long contact 90 is connected to the zero short contacts at 91; long contact 88 is connected to the number 1 short contacts at 89; long contact 92 is connected to the number 2 short contacts at 93. Other connections between short contacts having like numbers are printed on the back of the printed circuit board. There are two continuous circular contacts 101 and 103. External connections are taken at 95 and 97 at the back of the board. (In FIG. 11 the external connections are taken at 63 and 65.)

The wiper arm for the short contacts is shown in FIG. 4 at 96, this being carried by a hub 98 secured to a hollow shaft or sleeve 100, the later being disposed around the shaft 70 previously mentioned. Here again, the other wiper arm I02 may be integral with arm 96 and disposed away. Arm 96 carries a wiper 104 for the short contacts and a wiper I06 for the long contacts. AS before, inner wipers may be provided as shown at 108 and 110. The printed circuit board 84 has its front face toward the right, while the printed circuit board 40 has its front face toward the left, that is the boards are disposed backto-baek. The double wiper arm 96, 102 is the same as that shown in FIG. 5 of the drawing, except that it may be turned over, because of the reversed position of the printed board 84. In both cases the working ends or tips of the wipers are all disposed on a common diametrical line, as will be clear from inspection of FIG. 5.

One important advantage of the present rotary switch arrangement is that any desired number may be accommodated as a maximum number, with automatic reset following the maximum number. Thus in FIG. 11A the printed circuit board 112 may be used in lieu of the board 40 in FIG. 11. In this case the maximum number is 59, corresponding to minutes in an hour, and for this purpose there is a ring 114 of 60 short contacts, and a concentric outer ring 116 of six long contacts, each long contact having a length corresponding to 10 short contacts. The rings of contacts are not drawn in detail, but are merely suggested by the broken line circles 114 and 116. It will be understood that in other respects the arrangement may duplicate that shown in FIG. 11, that is, there may be radial lines of different length for each group of 0-9 short contacts, and there may be concentric circles printed on the back of the board, thus serving to connect together all of the number 0 contacts, all of the number 1 contacts, all of the number 2 contacts, and so on. Here again, the outer contacts are connected to an appropriate one of the inner contacts, that is the zero outer contact may be connected to a zero short contact, the number 1 outer contact is connected to a number I short contact; the number 2 outer contact is connected to a number 2 short contact and so on. Moreover, the front of the board may have two continuous circles of much smaller diameter, these being suggested at 118 and 120, for connecting the two wiper arms to external conductors.

It will be understood that here again, the wiper arms are carried and turned by a shaft which turns 40 revolution an hour, like the shaft 70 in FIG. 4, left that the time in this case will read in hours and minutes, with a reading of 23:59 followed by a reading of 00:00.

As previously mentioned the timer may be designed for automatic reset at any desired figure. For example, for a reset at 37, there would be 37 short contacts with a wiper shaft driven by a pawl and ratchet wheel having 37 teeth There would be three long contacts each having a length corresponding to short contacts of 09 and there would be a fourth long contact corresponding in length to seven short contacts representing 0-6. Such a counter will reset to 00 after a readout of 36 This dual circular switch may be combined with another dual circular switch having a slow speed shaft appropriately driven by the shaft of the first dual switch. As a simple example, it could be combined with the dual switch shown in FIG. 12, in which case the counter would reset to 0000 after a readout of 2437.

The particular mechanism here employed may be described with reference to FIGS. 3,4, 7 and 8. In the perspective view shown in FIG. 3 various parts have been displaced. For example the upper end of link 172 connects to the arm 176 pivoted at 178. The ratchet wheel 138 and its associated pawl mechanism and arm 130 have been displaced downwardly, and in practice would be on the same axis as the coaxial shafts 70 and 100. The clock motor 122 and cam 126 actually are located lower than shown, so that the cam may be in contact with cam follower 128 on arm 130.

The clock motor 122 (FIGS. 3 and 4) may be any standard timing motor, driven synchronously by AC and having built-in reducing gears to turn its output shaft 124 100 revolutions per hour. Shaft 124 carries a cam 126 (FIGS. 4 and 7). This drives cam follower 128 forming part of an arm 130 which is pivoted at 132 (FIG. 7). Arm 130 has an offset part 134 which overlies one end 136 of a pawl arm of armature pivoted at 70 so that it is concentric with ratchet wheel 138, the latter being fixed on the shaft 70 previously referred to. The pawl carried by armature 136 is indicated at 140. The armature end 136 may be pulled upward by a tension spring, or the remote end 142 of the armature may be pulled downward as shown at 143. If ratchet wheel 138 has 100 teeth it is used with the dual rotary switch shown in FIG. 11, with a reset after number 99. If the ratchet wheel has 60 teeth it is used with the dual rotary switch shown in FIG. 11A, and the output is reset after 59.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 8, the shaft 70 passes through the two printed circuit boards 40 and 84, and centers a second ratchet wheel 144 having a hub 146 which is secured on tubular shaft 100. This ratchet wheel is detented by a conventional detent 148 (FIG. 8) pivoted at 150. (The first ratchet wheel 138 is similarly detented by a detent not shown). The detent 148 is drawn upward by a pull spring 152 which acts also as a return spring which urges pawl 154 downward. The pawl 154 is carried by a pawl arm 156 pivoted at 158. This is an angle lever the other arm 160 of which carries a cam follower 162 engaging a cam 164 mounted on the shaft 70, previously referred to. With this arrangement the ratchet wheel 144 is advanced one tooth for each revolution of the shaft 70, and when the wheel has 24 teeth, as in the present case, its tubular shaft 100 turns once a day.

The pawl 154 is urged radially as well as tangentially against the teeth of the ratchet wheel by means of the pull spring 152, and the radial motion may be additionally assured by means of sloping surface 166 on the pawl bearing against the fixed abutmcnt 168. The latter is adjustable by rotating it.

The step-by-step feeding mechanism for feeding the card from column to column may be conventional, and is only schematically suggested at 30 in FIG. 10. When the readout command switch 180 (FIG. 2) on the punch is closed, it activates solenoid 170 and inhibits the advance mechanism thereby preventing switching during the readout cycle. When the advance mechanism is in the latched position, the information available switch 188 closes, initiating the punch operation. As the punch advances from column to column, the common wires 36 are switched within the punch from I to 4 representing the four digits sequentially.

The apparatus preferably includes locking means to prevent pawl operation during the readout, that is, during the operation of the punches. The punch action is very fast, taking only milliseconds, and it would take a delay of say 36 seconds to interfere with proper stepping of the rotary switches by the clock. The pawl may be locked against movement for say 20 seconds without spoiling correct timing operation. The clock motor is free running", that is, the lock arrangement leaves the motor and cam free to turn.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is a solenoid which when deenergized is pulled up by spring 177 over a wire link 172. This wire link is connected at 174 to one arm 176 of an angle lever pivoted at 178. The other arm 180 has a tab 181 which engages a lock finger 182 the lower end of which is then in the solid line position 182. When the solenoid is energized the lock finger 182 is pulled by spring 184 to the dotted line position 182' at which time it is disposed over the offset ledge 134 of the arm 130 previously referred to, and thus holds the cam follower 128 in down position so that the cam 126 of the clock motor runs free. A return spring 177 urges arm 176 upward, and so releases the lock when a readout is not being taken.

Referring to FIG. 2, the solenoid coil is shown at 170, and is energized by closing of the readout command switch 186. This may be a manually operable pushbutton, or alternatively, it may be a switch which is operated by insertion of the business machine card into the machine. Referring to FIG. 7A, when the solenoid is energized it not only locks the cam follower 134 downward, so that the clock runs free, but also the tab 181 pushes in the pin 187 of a switch 188 which cause the punch head to operate. It may be mentioned that the upper part of the diagram in FIG. 2 shows conductors for one side only of a series of circuits all having a common return. There is an interlock so that the readout command causes operation of the solenoid, and the readout signal is delivered to the punch head and the latter operates.

FIG. 2 also shows how all of the zero contacts are connected together, all of the number 1 contacts are connected together, all of the number 2 contacts are connected together, ans so on. The wipers are indicated by arrows, and it will be seen that each wiper is independently connected to the column selecting wires shown at 36.

FIG. 2 shows connection of like numbers from switch 2 to switch 3, that is from the tenths digits to the hours digits, but it will be understood that in practice is is not necessary to run a ring of conductors between the two circuit boards 40 and 80, and front a lO-wire harness from one circuit board may be connected to the lO-wire harness from the other circuit board at or ahead of the 0-9 terminals indicated at 32 in FIG. 2.

The punch card is received in a carriage, not shown, and in FIG. 10 the known card feed means represented generally by block 30 actually operates on such a carriage rather than on the card itself. The selection of which group of four columns is to be used may be made manually, In more elaborate systems two cards may be used, one of which is kept by the workman, and the other of which is used to feed information into a computer, and the information on the cards may itself establish the correct carriage position for the group of columns to be used.

The apparatus preferably has a display readout, and refer ring to FIG. 4, this employs a standard clock face 192 in front of which there are minute and hour hands 194 and 196. The minute hand 194 is secured directly to the forward end 198 of shaft 70. The hour hand 196 is carried by a tubular shaft 200 which is driven by shaft 70 through reduction gearing 201 in conventional fashion, the reduction being 12 to one for a 12 hour clock face, and 24 to one for a 24 hour clock face.

For manual setting of the time of the apparatus, a knurled knob 202 (FIG. 3) is provided, this being secured to the rear end of the shaft 70. It will be evident that rotation of shaft 70 will change the display clock, and correspondingly change the readout of the rotary switches. The knob 202 is protected by a guard 204, which must be moved out of the way before using the knob. This, though spindle 206 and its offset 208 bears against armature 136, or arm 30 thereby disabling the pawl 140 by holding arm 135 down while the clock is being reset by means of knob 202.

In many places a master and slave clock system is used, the slave clocks receiving a pulse at intervals from the master clock. Referring to FIG. 13, a field coil 220 receives such pulses from a master clock, and because of the resulting magnetic field between poles 224 and 226 each pulse pulls a tiltable armature from the solid line position 222 to the broken line position 222'. The armature is built up of two strips spaced apart by blocks at the ends, all made of ferrous metal. The armature is freely pivoted at 228, and is urged to the solid line position by means ofa pull spring 230. The armature acts also as a pawl arm carrying a pawl 232 engaging a ratchet wheel 234. In some systems this has 60 teeth, and in others it has 100 teeth, and in any case functions to turn the minute hand of the slave clock once an hour. The hour hand is geared to the minute hand by the usual reduction gearing, with a ratio of 12:1 for a 12 hour clock face, or 24:1 for a 24 hour clock face. The pawl 232 has its motion limited by a pawl stop 236, and this serves to hold the pawl in the teeth of the ratchet wheel until the next pulse is received.

It will be seen that the armature 222 corresponds to the armature 136, 142 shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, and that the pawl 222 corresponds to the pawl 140. Pawl 140 in FIG. 3 may similarly have a pawl stop like the stop 236 shown in FIG. 13. In practice the subassembly is available and is therefore used in the clock shown in FIG. 3, even though in FIG. 3 the armature acts merely as a pawl arm, there being no field magnet like the magnet 220, 224, 226 in FIG. 13.

To use the present improvement in a slave clock system it is merely necessary to omit the clock motor 122, the cam 126, and the arm 130 with its cam follower 128. Instead the mechanism at the first ratchet wheel [38 is modified to include the field coil 220, so that the pulses received from the master clock drive the first pawl and ratchet mechanism as shown in FIG. 13, the shaft 228 being the shaft 70 shown in FIG. 3, and serving to turn not only the minute hand of the clock face, but also the first dual rotary switch, and the cam for the second pawl and ratchet mechanism which turns the second dual rotary switch, all as previously described.

It is believed that the construction and operation of our improved timer with multiple wire output, as well as the advantages thcreof, will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. It will be understood that each switch may be on a separate printed circuit board, making a total of four boards instead of two. In such case one shaft would turn the contact arms for two boards, and the second shaft would turn the contact arms for the next two boards. Inasmuch as harness connections would be needed between boards such an arrangement would be more complex and costly to construct. On the other had, there could theoretically be a single board with four circles of contacts and two concentric shafts turning at different speeds, each with a double wiper. However, that would require a very large board, and would be much more complex mechanically. We therefore consider the disclosed arrangement with two switches on each board to be the most advantageous construction, If the maximum number requires only three digits the second board would have only one rotary switch. If the maximum readout figure requires five digits (or six digits) a third printed board may be added with a single switch (or a dual switch operated by a third shaft which is turned at an appropriate speed depending on the first (or the first two) digits of the desired maximum number, reading from left to right. Additional boards may be added to increase the number of digits to display the days and/or months of the year or other special functions used for counting or signalling.

It will be understood that while we have shown and described our invention in a preferred form, changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the claims the term readout" includes a punch head for a punched card as described above.

We claim:

1. A counter with a multiple wire output for readout, said counter having automatic reset to zero for a predetermined maximum number having two digits which are related as units and tens, each digit being 9 or less, said counter having a shaft, means rotatably driving said shaft in step by step increments, the number of steps in a full rotation of said shaft corresponding to the maximum number, a units rotary switch having a wiper arm moved by said shaft over a ring of short contacts, the number of short contact equaling the desired maximum number, said short contacts being in groups corresponding to 0-9, 0-9, etc., with a remainder if needed, conductors connecting all of the number 0 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 1 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 2 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 3 short contacts, and so on, a tens rotary switch having a wiper arm moved by said shaft over a ring of long contacts each of which has a peripheral length corresponding to ten contacts of the units rotary switch, one long contact corresponding to the remainder of short contacts when there is such a remainder, the number of long contacts equaling the number of groups of short contacts, said long contacts corresponding to the numbers 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc., the 0-9 long contact being electrically connected to the conductors connecting the number 0 short contacts. the l0-l9 long contact being electrically connected to the conductors connecting the number 1 short contacts, the 20-29 long contact being electrically connected to the conductor connecting the number 2 short contacts, and so on. and conductors leading from said wipers for external connection to a readout.

2. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which the maximum number is 99 to be followed by 00 and in which there are 10 long contacts each having a peripheral length corresponding to 10 of the short contacts.

3. A counter as defined in claim 2, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drive the pawl that the shaft turns once an hour, whereby the readout shows tenths and hundredths of an hour.

4. A counter as defined in claim 3, in which there is a second shaft with pawl and ratchet mechanism, and in which the first shaft operates the pawl of the second shaft once for each revolution of the first shaft, and in which the second ratchet wheel has 24 teeth, so that the second shaft turns once in each day, two more rotary switches driven by said second ratchet wheel, said two added switches having contacts for a maximum of 23 with a reset to 00 at 24, and in which the combined maximum number is 23.99 to be followed by a reset to 00.00, whereby the readout shows hours and decimal fraction of hours.

5. A counter as defined in claim 4, in which the rotary switches of each pair of rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has two rings of contact printed on the front face of the board, said two rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts of like digits, and in which the hour shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts, and in which the day shaft which carries the second ratchet wheel is concentric with the hour shaft.

6. A counter as defined in claim 5, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the aforesaid rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.

7. A counter as defined in claim 4, in which there is a command switch means in the output circuit to call for delivery of a readout, and additional means to automatically disable to pawl-operating means when a readout is called for by said command switch means.

8. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, said front face also having generally radial conductors of different length for the contacts of different digits, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts representing like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, an the other for the inner ring of contacts.

9. A counter as defined in claim 8, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contact and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.

10. A counter as defined in claim I, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drove the pawl that the shaft turns once a day, and in which the maximum number is 23 to be followed by a reset to and in which there are three long contacts, two of the long contacts having a peripheral length corresponding to ten short contacts, while the third long contact has a peripheral length corresponding to four short contacts, whereby the readout shows the hour of a 24 hour day.

11. A counter as defined in claim 10 in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside a the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring, and the for the inner ring of contacts.

12. A counter as defined in claim 11, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts,

and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection the wipers.

13. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drive the pawl that the shaft turns once an hour, and in which the ratchet wheel has 60 teeth, the predetermined maximum number being 59 to be followed by a reset to 00 at 60, and in which there are six long contacts, each having a peripheral length corresponding to ten short contacts, whereby the readout shows minutes of the hour.

14. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which there is a second shaft with pawl and ratchet mechanism, and in which the first shaft operates the pawl of the second shaft once for each revolution of the first shaft, and in which the second ratchet wheel has 24 teeth so that the second shaft turns once in a day, and in which the maximum number is 23:59 is to be followed by a reset 00.00 whereby the readout shows hours of the day and minutes of the hour.

15. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts representing like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipes, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts.

16. A counter as defined in claim 15, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.

17. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which there is a command switch means in the output circuit to call for delivery of a readout, and additional means to automatically disable the pawl-operating means when a readout is called for by said command switch means. 

1. A counter with a multiple wire output for readout, said counter having automatic reset to zero for a predetermined maximum number having two digits which are related as units and tens, each digit being 9 or less, said counter having a shaft, means rotatably driving said shaft in step by step increments, the number of steps in a full rotation of said shaft corresponding to the maximum number, a units rotary switch having a wiper arm moved by said shaft over a ring of short contacts, the number of short contact equaling the desired maximum number, said short contacts being in groups corresponding to 0-9, 0-9, etc., with a remainder if needed, conductors connecting all of the number 0 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 1 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 2 short contacts, conductors connecting all of the number 3 short contacts, and so on, a tens rotary switch having a wiper arm moved by said shaft over a ring of long contacts each of which has a peripheral length corresponding to ten contacts of the units rotary switch, one long contact corresponding to the remainder of short contacts when there is such a remainder, the number of long contacts equaling the number of groups of short contacts, said long contacts corresponding to the numbers 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc., the 0-9 long contact being electrically connected to the conductors connecting the number 0 short contacts, the 10-19 long contact being electrically connected to the conductors connecting the number 1 short contacts, the 20-29 long contact being electrically connected to the conductor connecting the number 2 short contacts, and so on, and conductors leading from said wipers for external connection to a readout.
 2. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which the maximum number is 99 to be followed by 00 and in which there are 10 long contacts each having a peripheral length corresponding to 10 of the short contacts.
 3. A counter as defined in claim 2, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drive the pawl that the shaft turns once an hour, whereby the readout shows tenths and hundredths of an hour.
 4. A counter as defined in claim 3, in which there is a second shaft with pawl and ratchet mechanism, and in which the first shaft operates the pawl of the second shaft once for each revolution of the first shaft, and in which the second ratchet wheel has 24 teeth, so that the seconD shaft turns once in each day, two more rotary switches driven by said second ratchet wheel, said two added switches having contacts for a maximum of 23 with a reset to 00 at 24, and in which the combined maximum number is 23.99 to be followed by a reset to 00.00, whereby the readout shows hours and decimal fractions of hours.
 5. A counter as defined in claim 4, in which the rotary switches of each pair of rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said two rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts of like digits, and in which the hour shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts, and in which the day shaft which carries the second ratchet wheel is concentric with the hour shaft.
 6. A counter as defined in claim 5, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the aforesaid rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.
 7. A counter as defined in claim 4, in which there is a command switch means in the output circuit to call for delivery of a readout, and additional means to automatically disable to pawl-operating means when a readout is called for by said command switch means.
 8. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, said front face also having generally radial conductors of different length for the contacts of different digits, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts representing like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts.
 9. A counter as defined in claim 8, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contact 3 and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.
 10. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drive the pawl that the shaft turns once a day, and in which the maximum number is 23 to be followed by a reset to 00 and in which there are three long contacts, two of the long contacts having a peripheral length corresponding to ten short contacts, while the third long contact has a peripheral length corresponding to four short contacts, whereby the readout shows the hour of a 24 hour day.
 11. A counter as defined in claim 10 in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring, and the other for the inner ring of contacts.
 12. A counter as defined in claim 11, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external Connection the wipers.
 13. A counter as defined in claim 1, in which said driving means comprises a pawl and ratchet wheel, said ratchet wheel having a number of teeth corresponding to said maximum number, and a clock driven means to so drive the pawl that the shaft turns once an hour, and in which the ratchet wheel has 60 teeth, the predetermined maximum number being 59 to be followed by a reset to 00 at 60, and in which there are six long contacts, each having a peripheral length corresponding to ten short contacts, whereby the readout shows minutes of the hour.
 14. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which there is a second shaft with pawl and ratchet mechanism, and in which the first shaft operates the pawl of the second shaft once for each revolution of the first shaft, and in which the second ratchet wheel has 24 teeth so that the second shaft turns once in a day, and in which the maximum number is 23:59 to be followed by a reset 00.00 whereby the readout shows hours of the day and minutes of the hour.
 15. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which the rotary switches comprise a printed circuit board which has the aforesaid two rings of contacts printed on the front face of the board, said rings being concentric, with the tens ring outside the units ring, and in which the back face of the board is printed with conductors connecting the contacts representing like digits, and in which the shaft carries two wipers, one for the outer ring of contacts, and the other for the inner ring of contacts.
 16. A counter as defined in claim 15, in which there are two continuous concentric rings well inside the rings of contacts, and in which one wiper engages both a ring of contacts and a continuous ring, while the other wiper engages the other ring of contacts and the other continuous ring, whereby the continuous rings serve for external connection to the wipers.
 17. A counter as defined in claim 13, in which there is a command switch means in the output circuit to call for delivery of a readout, and additional means to automatically disable the pawl-operating means when a readout is called for by said command switch means. 